Should guns be outlawed?

I personally think that if you want to keep a gun then it is non of the government's business.
If for example I keep a Glock19 and a Glock26 for home protection and the range, I store them securely but at the same time loaded and ready taking all the precautions to keep these weapons from falling into the hands of kids or fellons then I dont see how the goverment could outlaw something that belongs to me.
Now if I was gonna use the weapon to commit a crime or took it to a football match or a into a goverment building then yes I would be committing an affray but if all I wanted to do was keep my home protected and go to the range it is stupid that the government chooses to treat me like a villain. I think a lot of it has to do with the over-reaction seen in the wake of the Dunblane massacre.

 

uk murder rate 760 for 1999
us murder rate 18209 for 1997

Wake up and smell the coffee and stop believing the lies.

The Bear.

 

Why not compare the Canadian and American murder rates then PB? Don't blame guns for murders that people commit. One way or another, we'll all find a way to kill each other.

Outlawing guns is about as fair as outlawing baseball/cricket bats. They can both be used as weapons. It just depends on your intent. The difference is in the degree of lethality they posess. Guns are of a higher lethality, so they should be controlled more rigorously. If it was up to me, you would have to go through a rigorous licensing process, a psychiatric assessment, a background check, and enter into a registration system. We should have strict but fair storage laws that take into account the locality and use of the firearm, and the safety of the family/owner and neighbors.

People need to realize that guns aren't just made for killing people. The vast majority, especially in Canada, are sporting guns. How would you feel if the government banned all combatives sporting goods, including punching bags, shinai, bokken, and all other practise weapons, simply because they could conceivably be used to harm someone else?

 

After reading some of the comments posted here, I've been won over by the idea of maintaining gun legality. but really, they shouldn't have been made in the first place.

 

Good point K_Coffin. I most whole heartedly agree

 

I agree with K_Coffin. I think guns should be strictly controlled, maybe with a gun license similar to a driver's license. If you think about it, the responsibilities are about the same. Each one can be used to kill somebody quite easily. I also agree with K_Coffin about the outlawing bit. If guns were outlawed, every martial arts weapon/piece of training gear, half of all the tools out there, and various household objects would also have to be outlawed.
Polar Bear: Go fetch a map. Look at the UK. Aight? Now look at the United States. Look at that map for a while. Now fetch a chart of nations/populations. Look at the UK's population. Aight? Now look at America's population. It IS true that per 1000 people there are less murders in the UK than there are in the US, but you must remember, the UK is a smaller place, and therefore more easily regulated. The US is just too large to be regulated efficiently like that.
Another thing. If we do decide to outlaw firearms here in the U.S., crime organizations would still be able to get firearms from smugglers quite easily. Even if we do somehow manage to make firearms generally unavailable to everybody, we would still run around, killing each other with zip guns, as mentioned before, with knives, with hammers, etc. Unfortunately, the gun was invented. There's no way to uninvent it. We just have to live with it, and use it to our advantage.

 

Polar, the UK had a low murder rate when it had no gun laws. In the US the areas with the most gun laws have the most murders and violent crime (whether actual numbers or rates). It is that way across the world as well.

The gun is only an inert mechanical device. It possesses no will of its own, just as a sword or a stick.

Evil is in the hearts of men, not a device.

Commander, several U.S. cities have outlawed firearms. These areas have high murder rates and actual numbers, e.g. Chicago or D.C., inter alia. Of course, gun laws are rooted in racism, but their utilitarian basises have been destroyed over the years.

 

guns should be outlawd because a gun can allow a lowly worm to kill a great hero on luck alone
.

 

Oh, You mean like comparing statistics between countries where there's greater then a six-fold difference in population size?

It's not the weapon, it's the mindset of the person holding it.

 

if a "great hero" gets shot by a "lowly worm" with a lucky shot then the hero wasnt so great now was he?
Battle is luck.
Skill only tilts the odds in the favor of the more skilled.
But If i ahd a choice between being skilled and unlucky or unskilled and lucky I would choose lucky.
Something I learned from Role playing games.

 

Hmmmmm . . . I've never owned a gun, but somehow I've miraculously avoided being killed by bad people. Maybe I'm just an abnomoly.

"If guns are made illegal, only criminals will have them." Yes, by definition. You could also say, "If murder was made illegal, only criminals would commit murder." Oh, wait a minute . . .

This question comes up annoyingly often on martial arts forums.

 

Ok multiply Britain statistics by six to get like for like.

It is far easier to kill someone with a gun than it is with a knife. You don't have to touch them, smell them and see their eyes as you kill them. Guns mechanise killing. That is the true horror of guns.

Single Shot sporting rifles, shotguns for farmers could be allowed which strict licencing. As a tool, exceptions can be made.

It amazes me that you are all so afriad of each other that you feel you need guns to protect youself. Criminals in the UK rarely use guns because most people aren't armed therefore the criminals don't need guns and less people get killed. The main rise in gun crime in the U.K. are from young black men trying to emulate American ganstas. Sad but true.

The Canadian chap it right, It is American society thats wrong, obviously the society isn't mature enough to handle firearms. Canada is more mature and can handle it. I would say Britian is too densely populated to handle firearms. So I would never agree to having them.

The Bear.

 

The UK had a low murder rate when gun were legal because only the rich could ever afford to own a gun. Please understand the context before you make statements like this.

You can't reduce crime by increasing weaponry. Raise Taxes and spend it on Social Serivces, Healthcare and Education.
When I was in New York, I did a stupid thing, I walked everywhere even across rough neighbourhoods. I saw people wearing trash bags queueing up outside of a chruch to recieve bread to eat. While 5 blocks away I was paying $150 a night for a hotel, I felt so ashamed of America at that time and it has never left. Deal with these issues don't waste money on a gun, work on the poverty and injustice.

The Bear.

 

This has to be the most racist comment I have heard on this forum. Just cause someone is a young black male does not mean he is strapped, it is exactly this attitude which breeds fear and prejudice towards blacks and hispanics and muslims on British streets.

 

Here's my farthing's worth.*

I think one of the major problems is the amount of accidents that occur as a result of the over population of guns. What do people need to do to own a gun? It takes a lot of training and education to be allowed to drive a car, is it the same for firearms?
There should be more responsibility placed on owners to ensure that the firearms are kept safe so that they cannot fall into the wrong hands. I am thinking about the incedents of children going to school and shooting/killing people. The owners should be responsible, in some way, for what their firearms 'do'.

True, the above does nothing to address the criminals' use of firearms, but there is such a high number of incidents where 'criminals' are not involved. I am thinking of some statistics that were in Robert Smith's book 'Martial Musings'.

* for those who don't know:
Farthing - one quarter of an old penny. (not a lot)

 

Why is this a racist comment? I didn't say that all black males were criminals only those wishing to follow a particular lifestyle. I am a white man age 18-40, it makes me more likely to be a serial killer, is that a racist comment? No, it's just a fact. I don't like the fact about Gangsta culture in the black community and I'm sure neither do many black people however because I say that there is an issue in this community doesn't mean I am racist. The scottish ned culture of young white male carrying knives is a problem, am I racist about commenting on the bad aspect of my own ethnic background.

The Bear.

 

What the Bear said.

If you want to own/carry a gun so much you should join the army. As has already been pointed out, you can hunt, target shoot and control animals in many other ways. (Kyudo anyone?)

Go find another toy. Leave guns alone.

Cheers,

Matt.

 

The problem here is that some people thinks that the army and the police should not have monopoly on shooting at people. If you say you want to have easy access to guns because tha badguys've got them anyway; why bother with paying for having police then? People thinking along theese lines should bother reading about Norway in the Viking-age, where there was law, but noone to enforce it; so it fell upon the individual to stand for his right. According to documents from that time, it was not a very pleassent situation.

I'm not against guns, but I do think they should only be possible to aquire if you can document that you hunt (animals) with them regularely.

 

Saying that letting everyone have guns makes it safer for the law abiding people as they can fight back, and that if guns are outlawed sounds like a good answer. However it also sounds alot like the M.A.D. situation of the cold war. (Mutially Assured Destruction). They have big missiles so we must have big missiles so they know if they attack we will attack back.

This will just lead to an escalation in the destructive power, ie good guys have hand gun, bad guys get assault rifle, The criminal elemant will always have access to weapons, giving everyone access to them will not make things safer.

Things need to be dealt with at a supply level, make the gun trade unprofitable, put high taxes etc on guns and ammo. Restrict access to these weapons and ammunition.

 

OK.
Most guns are illegal in the UK, has this stop'd gun related crim, no it is increasing at a hugh rate. Most of these are commited with illegal guns brourght in from eastern europe. We cant stop thousands of humans comeing in to this contry illegaly, what chance do we have against a suite case full of hand guns.
even if we could stop guns comeing in to the country, that still wouldn't make any difference, dureing the 70's the UDA and UDF were well known for there ability to make effective SMG's from scratch.
I live on a farm, where I do use both a shootgun and a rifle on a regular basis, it costs me sevral hundred pounds a year, and 2 police interviews a year to keep my guns. If i were to comit a crime why would I use a weapon that could be traced to me, when I could by a decant hand gun (cause rifels are not suited for most crimes), for less than my weapons alredy cost me.
Haveing guns in the house does not mean an increase in violance. Switzerland has one of the highest number of automatic weapons kept in private homes, yet has one of the worlds lowest crime rate. although it has been suggested that, the low crime rate is to do with the self dissaplin taurght during your national service (good idea for a new argument).
Oh, and for who ever it was who said guns are built purely for killing people, some people like to use guns purely for target practace, its a fun challange. Some people also like to use bows and arrows, should we ban Zden Archery as these are weapons built for ,killing people. What about Swords, and every other weapon mentioned on MAP. there have been sevral attacks over the last few years useing, mainly, katanas or nunchuks.
Also that statment is wrong because my little 22 riffle would have problems killing anything bigger that a dog, so it's designed for killing small animals and targets, not humans.